Strings of Fate
by Hinacrush
Summary: The council of Suna has decided it would be better to arrange a marriage for Gaara so the village will follow him, but who have they decided to have him marry? Will they both agree to this ordeal for the sake of his village or will feelings arise with the two?


**Chapter 1**

Temari walked into the council room and took her place sitting next to one of the elders. She sighed, thinking _I hope this does not drag on like normal_. They rambled on indefinitely about minor issues until she heard her name and looked up.

"Temari we want to discuss your youngest brother. Since he is the Kazekage we have certain standards that we feel will better help the village follow and trust him just like all the other Kazekage's." The old man explained as he looked at the fierce blonde.

"What standards? He is following every rule to the letter and doing a ridiculous amount of paper work. As I recall the Kazekage's decisions are his alone." Temari scowled at him, defending her brother.

"He meets all the standards, but one and that is to be married to someone. The village needs the Kazekage, but they tend to respond and follow better when they see he can be faithful to someone else. So we the council have decided to arrange a marriage for him." The old man who was the leader spoke, but all the other elders agreed with him by nodding.

"What? You cannot do this; he should be able to choose for himself who he wants! Who is this girl you are arranging him with?" Temari banged her hands against the table as her voice began to rise with anger.

"It has already been decided who and when it will be taking place, this will happen whether they like it or not. We will give more information along with a meeting of the two in the next day or so by a letter." He said clearing his throat making it clear that the conversation was over.

Temari stormed out of the room and walked outside. She immediately drew her fan out to fly back to Suna and tell her brother the grim news.

* * *

The Kazekage was up in his office doing paper work, his desk was filled with enough paper work for days it was like no end would come, still it was the job he signed up for. He sighed and got up, since he had been sitting in his chair all morning he needed a small break but before would even think about that his older sister Temari barged into the room.

"What is it, didn't you just come from the council meeting?" Gaara said with a passive look on his face.

"Yeah, and it is bad news." Temari sighed, her expression grim. This would not please her brother.

Deciding that the best way to give bad news was to jump right in, Temari cut to the chase. "The council is setting up an arranged marriage for you. I don't know with who but you can't let them!"

Gaara stood silently for a moment then grimaced. "Actually I can't stop them, according to the laws that is their right. Let me know as soon as you get more information, I'm going to look through the old records for a way out."

Temari nodded her head in understanding and left the office, hoping to find more information on this 'arranged marriage' they wished to throw on her brother. Once she left, Gaara narrowed his eyes on the door she walked out of. Why were the Elders suddenly wanting this marriage now? It didn't make any sense. Was there something he was missing or perhaps they just wanted an heir?

He might not have understood the situation as Temari described it considering he wasn't there in the meeting. For his village, he would go through with the wedding if that is truly what his council wanted. The only thing, was if the female participant wasn't willing, then he would not do it. He couldn't force marriage on someone, no matter how benefiting it is for the village.

Though it just meant the Elders would try finding someone else to throw on him which would be tiring. Perhaps he could find something in the older scrolls that may help him out with this. Otherwise he and this woman might be stuck in something they could not get out of.

Leaving his office, he went straight towards the old archives. Nodding his head to the guard who gave him the proper greeting, he opened the door and headed inside. Noticing how much he actually had to look through nearly made him sigh but he kept a straight face. If he couldn't find anything that night, he would continue more in the morning, possibly getting his siblings help as well.

Moving further into the room, he checked for rules and regulations on marriages for the Kazekage. Once he found the scroll, he sighed with relief. Opening it up, he scanned through it and realized it was pretty much sealed tight. The Elders knew what they were talking about when they brought this up to his sister.

Mentally cursing, he closed the scroll and placed it back into its rightful place. Looking down for a moment, he closed his eyes and inhaled softly. Would this be a Suna bound woman he would marry or possibly someone else from another village? It makes sense- the elders love strengthening ties.

Reopening his eyes, he left the scroll room to return to his office. Instead of thinking too hard about this, he needed to wait to see who the elders chose for him. Temari seemed rather angry about this event but Gaara was more… impassive despite being the one in the situation.

He would do anything for his village, even if that meant he was stuck getting married to someone. That was his duty as the Kazekage— govern over the village and protect his people from any dangers they were to face. In the scroll, it read "… The Kazekage's people would follow him better if he were wed to another, to see him faithful to his companion would ensure trust between him and the villagers…"

At first it didn't make any sense but he understood. He vowed to be the Kazekage with a smile on his face and he would accept the trials no different. It didn't matter what his siblings thought. The only two it concerned were him and his bride to be.

If she was okay with it as well, then that's all that mattered.

* * *

The pinkette had been training for hours making sure that her skills were not lacking in the next mission. She always felt like she brought her team down. Even after Sasuke left and she'd trained under Tsunade, she still felt like she relied on the strength of Naruto and Sai too much. As Sakura finished up her training a messenger bird flew to her allowing her to grab the message then immediately flying away for its next message to be sent out. Her curiosity won, an she immediately opened the letter, but after she had read it she had left crumbling the paper in her hand as she ran to her destination which was the Hyuga mansion.

Hinata was just coming out of the mansion to go for a walk as she always did at least once a day, but stopped once she saw her friend standing their trembling. "Sakura, what is wrong?"

Sakura could not speak, she was too distressed by the message but needed someone to talk to, she just was not sure how to say it. Realizing that she never let go of the now crumpled paper she handed it to Hinata.

Hinata looked at her friend before reading the paper to try to read Sakura's emotions, but gave up and read the letter. As she read the letter her eyes grew wider with every sentence. It took her several seconds to process what was being asked of her friend. "Wait the council of Suna has arranged for you to marry the Kazekage! That would mean you would be marrying Gaara and in a few days no less!" Hinata was stunned by what she just said out loud.

Sakura nodded not sure on what to say all she knew was that her mind was going in circles trying to figure out why the council had picked her instead of other candidates that would be better suited for this task. "What would you do?"

"Honestly, I would normally run away, but it is the council and what they say it must be obeyed it isn't like when I am having an arranged marriage which my father does, I can always argue with him and it goes away. I mean the good thing is at least you know your partner, most of us aren't that lucky." Hinata explained.

"I just don't get why it has to be me when there are others that would be thrilled to do this, and now they want us to meet in four days to arrange when our wedding will be!" Sakura ranted on.

"They must have a good reason for picking you, and plus who could not get along and love you." Hinata smiled trying to cheer her friend up.

Sakura smiled still having doubts about this marriage idea, but she was right she had no choice in this matter. She had thought in her mind _'She is right at least it is someone she knew, it could be worse and be someone she hated.'_ The girl decided to hug her friend for helping her and letting her talk about this, she was not sure if she could tell anyone else just yet. "Will you go with me to this meeting? I am nervous to go alone."

Hinata smiled nodding to her friend as she quickly sprinted inside to grab her travel gear. As she returned outside with her gear they picked up Sakura's things and was on their way to the meeting with Gaara, she was supposed to in four days meet him in his office in the evening. With each minute passing the pink haired girl got more nervous, realizing what she was agreeing to.

They knew it would take three days to get to Suna which if they wanted to make it in time for the meeting, they would need to leave now. "You ready bride to be?" Hinata grinned towards her friend as they began their journey through the desert.

"Don't start! It hasn't even happened yet and you are already calling me a bride." Sakura played around knowing that she made the right choice to talk to Hinata about this.

The days had passed quickly with the company she had, she knew that if she went alone she would most likely find a way to get out of this or run away from it all, but she felt stronger when she had friends with her. They had talked or joked mostly the whole way to Suna along with taking small breaks once they were in the desert. On the third day of traveling though the two noticed sand starting to blow in the wind more rapidly. They looked at each other with terror knowing what was heading their way, but could not find the words to say anything. Before they knew it a sandstorm had slowly developed over them. The winds were fierce preventing the two to see each other or where they were headed. There was sand hitting them viciously from the winds and immediately Sakura felt her feet come off the ground. Even with her struggling she knew that she could not fight this sandstorm and felt her body collapse with exhaustion from the hits she was taking from the sand. Before she lost consciousness one thing was going through her mind _'I am not going to make it to this meeting on time.'_

* * *

 **Authors Note: Hi everyone, I know it has been awhile and that is mainly because I was either in school or just had no ideas for any fanfics, but I am back at least for the summer! I hope you enjoy this new story and I will slowly get to my other fanfics that you guys have probably been waiting for, but this was a idea for a friend which I feel turned out really well. :) Let me know what you think, I intend to start a few stories this summer.**


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